A few weeks ago I emailed my family and
told them I was going to try to live in a more “charismatic” manner and by that
I meant that I was going to try to live more “by faith” and see how that would
change my doctrinal perspectives, etc.
I have found that it's not so much that
my theological stance is changing (though maybe it should,) but that my
theological/worldview is being defined. I am clarifying my own worldview.
In my mind, to live “by faith” means that
I probably shouldn’t have a full cupboard of food, I shouldn’t live in a house
that requires a mortgage, I should wear some shabby clothes, and maybe I
shouldn’t have a particular career.
But that’s actually not God’s
requirement for living by faith.
Living by faith can be done even if I
am eating more than 3 regular meals a day, if I go to a job 5 days a week, if I
wear “professional” clothing, and even if I live in a 2-story home. The
importance is not the quantity (or the quality) of my possessions, but HOW I
possess them, and if I am willing to give them up at any moment -- whenever He
may ask.
We are called to live by faith because anything done out of faith is pleasing to the Lord and the opposite is true when it is not done out of faith.
We are called to live by faith because anything done out of faith is pleasing to the Lord and the opposite is true when it is not done out of faith.
I go to work with joy and through FAITH
that God Himself has provided this job and salary for me at this time as His
good will and plan UNTIL He chooses to tell me otherwise.
I can live in a 2-story home that is
furnished if I live in it through FAITH that this is merely a MOMENTARY gift that
must be held and shared as such. It cannot be my focus or idol. It cannot be
held selfishly.
I can wear professional-looking clothes
if I wear them through FAITH that they are not my beauty or identity. They have
not been purchased for my vanity, but to serve as a covering that glorifies the
Lord and is right for my particular profession.
I can eat my daily allotment of food
through FAITH that the Lord has provided abundantly for my daily bread as I
trust that it is not through my own efforts alone that I am able to eat. I
cannot eat gluttonously and I cannot eat wastefully. I must be willing to
sacrificially share with those who do not have such an abundance. I cannot
believe that food alone sustains me and neglect the Food of the Lord -- His
Word.
These thoughts, questions, and ideas
are not new in the history of Christianity, in my (former) Christian circle,
nor are they new ideas or questions to my mind. They have been simmering for
some time. They are not -even- more charismatic. I am just stating it more
directly than have my previous circles. My previous circles have encouraged, "living on unseen
things," "lay it down before He asks for
it," and have then applied it in various ways (i.e. adoption).
Living “by faith” does not have to happen
in poverty, rather it MUST occur throughout/within every area of our present
existence. (Relationships, possessions, commitments.) I believe the term for
this is, "setting our minds on things above and not on things on the
earth." (Colossians 3)
It begins in the small, daily
activities and as we prove ourselves faithful, the Lord brings us further in to
the “life of faith.” There are times when this requires us to sell all and
follow Him, but this conviction is not required and it is not for everyone. He
will guide and He prepares as we follow… by faith.
